Leonardo daVinci



Leonardo daVinci (1452 - 1519)

As you know, my name is Leonardo da Vinci. I am a famous Italian Renaissance architect, musician, anatomist, inventor, engineer, sculptor, mathematician and painter. I have been described as a universal genius. I am famous for my masterly paintings, such as The Last Supper and the Mona Lisa, my drawings and sketches, many inventions that foreshadowed modern technology and many other contributions. I helped advance the study of anatomy, astronomy, and civil engineering and I befriended popes, kings and other highly respected people of my day. Interest in my work and my ideas has never waned.

I was born in a small village in Italy not far from the city of Florence. My father was a wealthy businessman but my mother was a poor servant. Not much is known about my early life except that I was a curious child with a great imagination. In 1466, at the age of fourteen, I became the apprentice of a highly respected artist whose workshop was "one of the finest in Florence."

During my life I was most famous for my paintings. My paintings are unique because of the human emotion and expression I put into my work. My painting of the Mona Lisa is arguably the most famous painting in the world. I think that part of the allure of the painting is that it is somewhat mysterious. Who is she? Why is she smiling? What secrets does she possess? About 6 million people view the painting at the Louvre each year and last year its insured value was listed at approximately $713 million!

I also had a keen interest in the anatomy of the human body as well as the anatomies of animals.

I drew muscles, tendons, the heart, reproductive organs and bodies afflicted with illness and disease. These drawings are also available on Wikipedia.

I was also a highly respected engineer. I designed bridges, hydraulic pumps, reversible crank mechanisms, finned mortar shells, steam cannons, machine guns, helicopters and tanks. Many of my designs weren’t used until World War I, in 1915, almost 400 years after I died!

Even though I died in 1519 in the arms of my dear friend King Francis I of France, interest in me has never slackened. I am happy that crowds of people still line up to see my most famous artworks, T-shirts bear my most famous drawings and all the world continues to marvel at my genius. My life and my legacy fully embodied the humanist spirit of the Renaissance … that all people have individual and infinite (never-ending) potential. Even after five centuries have passed, you still view me with awe. Grazie!

William Shakespeare (1564-1616):

My name is William Shakespeare and I am a famous English (now world renowned) Renaissance playwright, actor and entrepreneur. My contribution to the English language and theater is said to be the greatest ever to Western civilization. I am famous for plays such as Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet, where I bring in the pure humanist spirit of the Renaissance. My audiences included the royalty of England down to the common person, so that everyone regardless of class could enjoy the performances. My 38 plays have been reproduced around the world and are still performed and read in schools and theaters today.

I was born in April 1564 in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. Not much is known of my childhood other than I was one of eight children to a middle class family. At the age of 18 I married Anne Hathaway and later had three children.

You may be familiar with several of my plays with some of the most famous being Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Othello, A Midsummer Nights Dream, and the list goes on. Why are these plays important? Before my plays, romance had not been viewed as worthy topic for a tragedy. I took hold of the Renaissance spirit and introduced plays based on the common man, not always the nobility or the church.

In total my works have been made into over 420 movies and television shows. You probably have seen Leonardo Di Caprio playing the key role in Romeo and Juliet, or Heath Ledger in 10 Things I Hate About You which was an adaptation of Taming of the Shrew. More recently Gnomeo and Juliet was made based on my work. A movie about my younger years was made in 1999 called Shakespeare in Love and won 7 Academy Awards including best picture. My lasting influence is also seen in today’s society with the vast majority of high school and college students who read my works.

Just for fun, here are some phrases I invented…

All that glitters isn’t gold, barefaced, be all and end all, break the ice, catch a cold, clothes make the man, disgraceful conduct, dog will have his day, eat out of house and home, elbowroom, fair play, fancy-free, green eyed monster, heart of gold, hot-blooded, housekeeping, it’s Greek to me, lackluster, leapfrog, long-haired, method in his madness, mind’s eye, naked truth, one fell swoop, too much of a good thing, wear one’s heart on one’s sleeve and witching time of the night.

Martin Luther (1483-1546)

Few if any men have changed the course of history like me, Martin Luther. In less than ten years, I helped destroy an empire (the Catholic Church) that had ruled for a thousand years, and set in motion a train of revolution, war and conflict that reshaped Western civilization, and lifted it out of the Dark Ages.

I was born in1483 in what is today Germany, then part of the Holy Roman Empire. I am the son of hard-working, middle-class parents and was baptized Catholic in a world dominated by the Catholic Church, which was the spiritual leader of Europe.

After entering the monastery, I became increasingly doubtful that the Church could actually offer me salvation at all. My views cleared even further with a trip to Rome, where I found the capital of Catholicism swamped in corruption.

Extremely upset and distraught in my faith, I turned to the Bible where I discovered that it is not the Church, but my own individual faith that would guarantee salvation. I called this “justification by faith.” With this revelation, I turned against the Church, and attacked its practice of selling forgiveness of sins known as indulgences. Apparently you could be forgiven for past sins as well as sins in the future!!!?!?? I was outraged and wrote my famous work entitled the 95 Theses. My three key ideas in the 95 Theses were:

-People could win salvation only by faith in God’s gift of forgiveness. (The Catholic Church taught that faith AND “good works” were needed for salvation but I disagreed.)

-All Church teachings should be clearly based on the words of the Bible. Both the pope and Church traditions were false authorities.

-All people with faith were equal. Therefore, people did not need priests to interpret the Bible.

The Catholic Church did not like my new ideas, because they challenged their religious authority. The “Reformation” began! However, my troubles were only beginning. In 1520 I was excommunicated by Pope Leo X and was told to recant (take back) my statements.

As my ideas gained more followers I decided to stop trying to reform the Catholic Church and instead started my own separate religion called Lutheranism. My ideas began to attract more followers and some German princes supported my teachings. These princes became known as Protestants.

Today there are an estimated 70 million Lutherans and more than 500 million Protestants. A movie (Luther) has been made of my life and there are 42 Lutheran universities in North America. My legacy remains that of someone who embodied the spirit of the Renaissance and brought major religious and political change. What could be more important than that?

Directions: Read the passage for each Renaissance hero first. Then fill in the Evidence before describing the accomplishments in a sentence or answering the final question for each person.

Leonardo da Vinci

EVIDENCE: What were Leonardo da Vinci’s accomplishments?

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2.

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4.

5.

Why might one consider Leonardo da Vinci to be the greatest person to live during the Renaissance?

William shakespeare

EVIDENCE: What were William Shakespeare’s accomplishments?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Why might one consider William Shakespeare to be the greatest person to live during the Renaissance?

MARTIN LUTHER

EVIDENCE: What were Martin Luther’s accomplishments?

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

Why might one consider Martin Luther to be the greatest person to live during the Renaissance?

MEL-CON

WHO MADE THE GREATEST CONTRIBUTION TO RENAISSANCE SOCIETY?

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"His genius was so rare and universal that it can be said that nature worked a miracle on his behalf ..." (Anonimo Gaddiano c. 1540)

"O Romeo, Romeo, wherefore art thou Romeo?

“To be or not to be that is the question.”

"I would never have thought that such a storm would rise from Rome over one simple scrap of paper..." (Martin Luther)

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